40-42 Ballypollard Road, Magheramorne, Larne, Co Antrim, BT40 3JA

This is a former Presbyterian manse built in 1876, now divided into two houses. It is constructed of basalt rubble with yellow brick dressings and features multiple gables with steep pitched roofs. All woodwork is painted white.

The main entrance front faces south-east. This elevation is two-storey and three-bay, arranged symmetrically with a central single-storey gabled porch projecting forward. The roof is covered with Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, oversailing at each end on shaped timber brackets with tongued and grooved soffits. Black ridge tiles terminate in shaped finials at each extremity, and the overhanging eaves are carried on projecting rafters with shaped ends. Two chimneys are positioned symmetrically on the ridge, constructed of yellow brick with a cornice formed of three courses of yellow brick. Each chimney has one modern earthenware pot, and the right-hand chimney carries a television aerial. Cast iron gutters and downpipes are fitted, one at each extremity and one to the right of the projecting porch.

The walls are basalt rubble with later reticulated pointing and squared edges to the quoins. A projecting basalt plinth runs across the base with chamfered yellow brick weathering, except for sandstone weatherings at the extremities.

The projecting gabled porch has walling and plinth matching the main building, with a roof of similar construction. The barge boards are chamfered with shaped, notched ends containing small quatrefoil perforations. These barge boards are supported on a pair of shaped and notched brackets, and a modern ironwork weathervane tops the finial at the apex. The gable of the porch contains one rectangular timber sliding sash window, vertically hung with 2 over 2 panes and horns. It has a sandstone cill, yellow brick dressings to the sides that are stop-chamfered, and a stop-chamfered sandstone head surmounted by a Gothic relieving arch in basalt. Cast iron downpipes run down each extremity of the porch gable.

The left face of the porch contains the main entrance: a rectangular ledged timber door with a bronze octagonal handle and curvilinear brass letterbox. It has a sandstone head, yellow brick jambs keyed into the return stonework from the gable at the right-hand extremity, and a wide sandstone step. Cast iron guttering rests on projecting rafter ends as previously described. A circular metal bell-push surround is mounted on a wooden block set into the brickwork of the left-hand door jamb, and a later metal lamp bracket is mounted on the wall to the right of the door.

The right face of the porch has a rectangular timber sliding sash window, vertically hung with 1 over 1 panes and horns, with a cill. The dressings to sides and head match those previously described but without the relieving arch above.

To each side of the projecting porch at ground floor level is a sashed window with a Gothic relieving arch above, matching that in the gable of the porch. Two similar windows are positioned above at first floor level, rising into gabled dormers that also contain relieving arches. The dormer gables are slated as previously described, with timber barge boards, finials and brackets matching those of the entrance porch.

The south-west elevation consists of a large two-storey gable of the main house to the right, with a lower return set back to the left. From this return project forward a pair of single-storey gables, terminating at the left-hand extremity in a low hipped roof extension. The main two-storey gable has walling matching the entrance front, with large coupled windows symmetrically placed at ground floor level, featuring Gothic relieving arches. Similar windows appear at first floor level. In the apex of the gable is a recessed circular stone panel set in a yellow brick surround. The oversailing gabled roof has woodwork matching the entrance porch, though this is not original but has been replaced to the original design.

The wall returns to form the north-west face of the two-storey block, containing one first floor window: a rectangular timber sliding sash vertically hung with 2 over 2 panes and horns. It has a cill and dressings as previously described, but the sandstone head is not chamfered. A cast iron gutter discharges onto the roof below without a downpipe. A PVC soil pipe is located near the front corner of the block, with a PVC boiler flue pipe beyond, emerging from a small ground floor window that is now blocked up.

To the left of the main two-storey gable is a single-storey lean-to bay containing a rectangular window sashed as previously described, 2 over 2, with chamfered surrounds. The shallow pitched roof of the lean-to is slated as before, with a steeper pitched roof to the return beyond. This return has one yellow brick chimney on the ridge with a yellow earthenware pot. Cast iron guttering to the lean-to rests on shaped projecting rafter ends, with a cast iron downpipe mounted on the side wall of the twin gabled projection to the left. This side wall contains a narrow rectangular timber window sashed as before, 1 over 1, with unchamfered surrounds in yellow brick and sandstone.

The twin gabled projection has roofs slated as previously described, with barge boards, brackets and finials matching earlier examples, though the left gable is higher due to unequal bay widths. Some rot is visible at the ends of the barge boards at the central valley, and repair work in spliced sections is apparent to the barge boards and some brackets. The lower gable has a single rectangular sashed window, 1 over 1, with unchamfered surrounds but with a Gothic relieving arch; the lower pane has translucent glass. The higher gable has a pair of similar coupled windows with clear glass. The sandstone heads butt together and are surmounted by a large Gothic relieving arch which contains a sandstone shield inscribed with the date 'AD 1876'.

Stepped back slightly to the left of the twin-gabled projection is a low single-storey extension with a hipped roof slated as before, PVC gutter and downpipe, and a small sashed window 1 over 1 with unchamfered surrounds. The walling matches previous sections but without the plinth.

The north-west elevation comprises a single-storey wall of outbuildings enclosing a small yard. The walls are blank on each side of the central doorway to the yard, which is a rectangular ledged pine door, stained and varnished, set in a segmental arched yellow brick surround with a modern concrete paviour step. The outbuilding to the right of the door has a hipped roof slated as before, on shaped projecting brackets which are not structural, with PVC guttering returning from the west elevation. The outbuilding to the left of the door has a low-pitched monopitch roof of asbestos slates, oversailing on plain timber brackets with tongued and grooved soffit. The timber barge board is not original and has a shaped lower end. The yard wall above the doorway has reset rough stone copings.

The yard has been later covered over with a modern clear corrugated perspex roof on a light timber structure. The yard floor is covered with modern concrete pavoirs, and the interior walls are constructed of modern red brick with some stonework and modern reticulated pointing to the stonework. Behind the yard and outbuildings is a taller slated roof with one yellow brick chimney as previously described, fitted with a cowl pot. To the left-hand side is an attic dormer constructed in timber, with a fixed light and side-hung casement to the front face, glazed cheeks of two fixed lights each, and a low pitched lead roof.

Behind the hipped and gabled block is the elevation of the main two-storey block, with a roof slated as the entrance front and a large rectangular three-light flush rooflight which appears original.

The north-east elevation comprises the tall two-storey gable of the main block to the left, with the lower hipped return set well back to the right, terminating in a low flat-topped single-storey outbuilding. The main two-storey gable has a pair of coupled sashed windows surmounted by a pair of Gothic relieving arches, all matching the main gable on the south-west side. There is spalling to the sandstone heads.

A canted bay projects at ground floor level, constructed of yellow brick above a continuous sandstone cill, with a moulded brick cornice and blocking course surmounted by an unpainted wooden fascia and PVC gutter with PVC downpipe. Below the cill the walling is basalt with a projecting plinth and brick weathering as previously described. Three timber sashed windows appear, one in each face, with stop-chamfered brick surrounds and stop-chamfered sandstone heads. The windows are 2 over 2 to the front face and 1 over 1 to each angled face.

The wall returns to the right to form the north-west face of the main block, which is a blank wall of basalt with a projecting plinth as before. Cast iron guttering rests on projecting shaped rafter ends, with a cast iron downpipe featuring a double curved polygonal hopper at an intermediate stage for discharge from the lower return.

To the right the lower return is slated as before, with one yellow brick chimney fitted with a cowl pot. A rectangular timber dormer to the attic has paired side-hung casements to the front above tongued and grooved sheeting, glazed cheeks of three fixed panes, and a shallow pitched lead roof. The walling matches previous sections with projecting plinth. The roof is slated as before and hipped, with a pair of shaped brackets to the right fixed laterally to the right-hand end of the return. Cast iron guttering rests on shaped projecting brackets that are not structural.

Three windows appear in this return, all rectangular sashes as before, 1 over 1, with unchamfered surrounds. The wall of the outbuilding extending to the right-hand extremity does not have a plinth. The roof above has a flat profile with a timber fascia oversailing on projecting rafter ends. This extension contains one small rectangular timber fixed light window of two panes with unchamfered surrounds as before.

The building stands in a very rural location on an elevated site overlooking Larne Lough to the north. It is set well back from the main road but remains visible from it, within its own grounds which contain mature trees and shrubs with lawns on three sides. Adjacent to the south-east stands the contemporary Presbyterian Church, for which this property was originally built as the minister's house. The boundaries are formed by hedges and fences.

The main entrance gateway to the west comprises a pair of chamfered concrete posts with shaped tops, flanked on each side by slatted wooden screens and hung with a timber gate of rectilinear design in poor condition; this is of no special merit. Between the gateway and house stands a detached outbuilding of rectangular plan, built of basalt rubble with a brick chimney; this is also of no special merit.